Archive for September 2014

Oh no … really? Is that who we are now? Blind, unquestioning, warlike? Are we that violent, that childish, that silly, that shallow? Are we that afraid of others? Of ourselves? Of the possibility of genuine change? Are we that easily swayed, that capable of defending “American interests”, whatever “American interests” means? Are we that racist, that terrified, that protective of an idea that we don’t even question what the idea has come to represent?

Like, some of these guys were Marxists. I had nothing against Marxism at that time, but these guys weren’t speaking their own words. They just talked in slogans all the time, excerpts from books, that sort of thing. I didn’t like that. I mean, the words they used were strong and beautiful, but they weren’t their own. So, since then I stopped believing in beautiful words, beautiful slogans, and beautiful theories. I just believe in honest words, from myself.

Whatever I was, blue collar or white collar, ditch digger or waiter (yes, I did those things, too) or faculty member in a large university, I was a worker. By that I mean: I was subject to someone’s authority, some corporation, some bureaucracy. Some invisible power could decide my wages, my hours, whether I would keep my job or lose it. That’s why I always joined a union. I was in a shipyard workers’ union, a warehouse workers’ union, a faculty union, and now I’m a member of the National Writers’ Union, which is part of the United Automobile Workers (don’t ask why — maybe it’s because I drive an automobile).